Tests to determine if bone fragments found on a remote South Pacific island are the remains of Amelia Earhart are inconclusive, researchers said.

The results have dashed hopes that the tests might help explain what happened to the renowned American aviator who disappeared in 1937 while trying to fly around the world.

Scientists at the University of Oklahoma attempted to detect human DNA from three bone fragments recovered last year by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, a group of aviation enthusiasts in Delaware that found the pieces of bone while on an expedition to Nikumaroro Island, about 1,800 miles south of Hawaii.

The group has uncovered several artefacts, including some old make-up and glass bottles from the 1930s that suggest Ms Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan may have died as castaways on the island, said Ric Gillespie, director of the group.

“We knew this would be a tough job to get DNA from stuff that had laid around for 70 years,” Ms Gillespie said.

“The woman’s been missing for 74 years. We’ve been looking for her for 23 years. We have learned patience.”

Researchers at OU said about half a gram of bone material remained that could be tested later.

“For posterity, we have decided to preserve this remaining bone,” Cecil Lewis, the director of OU’s Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, wrote in his report.

“There is reason for optimism that someday in the near future, less destructive and more sensitive genomic methods will be able to resolve the bone’s origin. For now, the question of whether the bone is human must remain unanswered.”

Mr Lewis said tests continued on clumps of material resembling soil or faeces that were also recovered at the site.

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